COLUMN: New political movement needed to end legislation of morality

Our founding fathers endeavored to create a republic. While they noted the spiritual underpinning of the new nation, they didn’t legislate morality.

Government was meant to be the referee and protector of the society which crafted it, not its pastor.

Today, we have a different society than that of 1787. Values are different, religious fervor has abated, and society has taken on a more libertarian cast. Unfortunately, because of these developments, the modern day Republican Party has become passé. It insists on outlawing abortion, requiring prayer in public schools and pursuing an interventionist foreign policy.

We’ve reached a point in our national life where the Democratic Party can prevail at the national level by promising to leave people alone in their private lives while promising to make their lives better by using a spendthrift public treasury and appropriating more of the resources of the wealthiest in society to make the lives of the middle class and poor “better”.

Even though this approach is flawed and reckless, it now appeals to a working majority of American voters.

Is there an alternative to the Republicans? It seems that there should be. A viable alternative to things as they are at the Federal level would be a political movement that explains how runaway spending and increasing taxes will ultimately lead to a bankrupt nation. The recent debacle of “Obamacare” has heightened awareness of this dilemma. Most importantly, it has dramatically driven home this costly lesson in the limitations of government to every level of society, rich and poor.

But people don’t want to be preached to. In addition to driving home the lesson of limited government, a new alternative to the Democratic Party cannot include in its message the fatal flaw in today’s Republican Party: legislated morality.

In our history, we Americans have resolved or mediated issues of personal conduct through social evolution, whether it’s been slavery, the women’s vote, prohibition or civil rights. None of these matters were resolved by a party, but by the slow, steady reaching of consensus at the individual level. Usually, these changes come about peacefully, though sometimes not — as in the case of slavery.

Does this mean that the citizen should abandon the argument against abortion on demand, or legalized drugs, or same-sex marriage? No. Instead, the fight should occur at the individual level, at the dinner table or in churches or other local institutions.

People like Phyllis Schlafly and Pat Robertson should be out in the country addressing civic groups and speaking in town squares. The harsh reality in present-day America is that single women under 35 are afraid of the Republican Party because of its moralizing about abortion. Hispanics are afraid of the Party’s harping on controlling immigration and excluding new groups coming to America to seek a better life. We know from the last two presidential elections that their rejection of the Republicans has helped create a permanent majority of likely voters who tip the final vote to the party which they feel will will leave them alone regarding these issues, even though its economic program is disastrous.

Put simply, a new political movement is needed which allows social evolution to occur naturally, as the Founders understood when they decided not to outlaw slavery or embed Christianity or any other religious practice in the Constitution.

This new movement should make the argument that limited government which fosters a free market economy and doesn’t strive to be the world’s policeman is the best path for our nation. Barry Goldwater said that the issue of racial discrimination can only be resolved in the hearts of citizens and cannot be eradicated by state power. The same can be said for issues like same-sex marriage and abortion.

Trying to legislate morality only offends or confuses the individual, unless social consensus forces these changes into public administration. The only way to banish the taxing, spending and regulating binge of our Federal government is to deliver a clear, unambiguous message to all voters that making government return to our founding economic plan is essential to our progress and growth as a nation. The Republican Party is no longer capable of delivering this kind of a message.

Keith Murphy is a resident of White Lake Township. He served on the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission.